page_title: Battle of Annual
section_title: Spanish retreat
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Annual / Spanish retreat
caption_attribution_description: Español: Enero de 1922. Guerra del Rif. Meses después de la batalla de Annual (julio-agosto de 1921) los restos continúan dispersos.
context_page_description: The Battle of Annual was fought on July 22, 1921, at Annual in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Berber speaking Riffian combatants during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, almost always referred to by the Spanish as the Disaster of Annual, which led to major political crises and a redefinition of Spanish colonial policy toward the Rif.
context_section_description: At Afrau, on the coast, Spanish warships were able to evacuate the garrison. At Zoco el Telata de Mtalsa, in the south, Spanish troops and civilians were able to retreat to the French Zone. Spanish survivors of the battle retreated some 80 km to the spread-out fortified base of Monte Arruit, which was built between 1912 and 1916 and located south of Melilla. There, a stand was attempted under the leadership of General Felipe Navarro. As the position was surrounded, and cut off from water and supplies, General Dámaso Berenguer Fusté, Spanish High Commissioner in the protectorate, authorised its surrender on August 9. The Rifeños reportedly did not respect the conditions of surrender and killed 3,000 Spanish soldiers. General Navarro was taken prisoner, along with 534 military personnel and 53 civilians who were ransomed some years later.
  Melilla was only some 40 km away but was in no position to help since the city was almost defenceless and lacked properly-trained troops. The exhausted and demoralised survivors of Annual who reached Melilla were in no condition to reinforce the existing garrison effectively. However, the Riffian tribal forces had largely dispersed following the capture of Monte Arruit, leaving Abd-el-Krim with insufficient men to lay siege to Melilla. In addition, citizens of other European nations lived in Melilla, and he did not wish to risk international intervention. Abd-el-Krim later stated that to have been was his greatest mistake.
  Spain quickly assembled about 14,000 reinforcements from elite units of the Army of Africa, which had been operating south of Tetuan in the Western Zone. They mainly comprised units of the Spanish Legion who had been newly raised in 1920, and Moroccan regulares. Transferred to Melilla by sea, the reinforcements enabled the city to be held and Monte Arruit to be retaken by the end of November.
  The Spaniards may have lost up to 22,000 soldiers at Annual and in the subsequent fighting. The German historian Werner Brockdorff states that only 1,200 of the 20,000 Spanish troops escaped alive, but that estimate of losses appears to be exaggerated. Rif casualties were reportedly only 800. The final official figures for the Spanish death toll, both at Annual and during the subsequent rout which took Riffian forces to the outskirts of Melilla, were reported to the Cortes Generales as 13,192 killed.
  Materiel lost by the Spanish, in the summer of 1921 and especially in the Battle of Annual, included 11,000 rifles, 3,000 carbines, 1,000 muskets, 60 machine guns, 2,000 horses, 1,500 mules, 100 cannons, and a large quantity of ammunition. Abd el Krim remarked later: "In just one night, Spain supplied us with all the equipment which we needed to carry on a big war". Other sources give the amount of booty seized by Rif warriors as 20,000 rifles (German made Mausers), 400 machine guns (Hotchkisses), and 120 to 150 artillery pieces (Schneiders).
caption: Spanish officers inspecting the remains of the garrison at Monte Arruit in January 1922.
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